Earlier text: Nature of the LawSufferings of the Judsons.
THE next morning, I sent Moung Ing to ascertain the situation of your brother, and give him food, if still living. He soon returned, with the intelligence that Mr. Judson and all the white foreigners were confined in the death prison, with three pairs of iron fetters each, and fastened to a long pole, to prevent their moving! The point of my anguish now was, that I was a prisoner myself, and could make no efforts for the release of the missionaries. I begged and entreated the magistrate to allow me to go to some member of Government to state my case; but he said he did not dare to consent, for fear I should make my escape. I next wrote a note to one of the king's sisters, with whom I had been intimate, requesting her to use her influence for the release of the teachers. The note was returned with this message: she "did not understand it;" which was a polite refusal to interfere; though I afterwards ascertained that she had an anxious desire to assist us, but dared not, on account of the queen. The day dragged heavily away, and another dreadful night was before me. I endeavored to soften the feelings of the guard by giving them tea and cigars for the night; so that they allowed me to remain inside of my room without threatening, as they did the night before. But the idea of your brother being stretched on the bare floor, in irons and confinement, haunted my mind like a specter, and prevented my obtaining any quiet sleep, though nature was almost exhausted. On the third day, I sent a message to the governor of the city, who has the entire direction of prison affairs, to allow me to visit him with a present. This had the desired effect, and he immediately sent orders to the guards to permit my going into town. The governor received me pleasantly, and asked me what I wanted. I stated to him the situation of the foreigners, and particularly that of the teachers, who were Americans, and had nothing to do with the war. He told me it was not in his power to release them from prison or irons, but that he could make their situation more comfortable; there was his head officer, with whom I must consult relative to the means. The officer, who proved to be one of the city writers, and whose countenance at the first glance presented the most perfect assemblage of all the evil passions attached to human nature, took me aside, and endeavored to convince me, that myself, as well as the prisoners, was entirely at his disposal; that our future comfort must depend on my liberality in regard to presents; and that these must be made in a private way and unknown to any officer in the Government! "What must I do," said I, "to obtain a mitigation of the present sufferings of the two teachers?" "Pay to me," said he, "two hundred ticals [about a hundred dollars], two pieces of fine cloth, and two pieces of handkerchiefs." I had taken money with me in the morning; our house being two miles from the prison, I could not easily return. This I offered to the writer, and begged he would not insist on the other articles, as they were not in my possession. He hesitated for some time; fearing to lose sight of so much money, he concluded to take it, promising to relieve the teachers from their most painful situation. I procured an order from the governor for my admittance into prison; but the sensation produced by meeting your brother in that wretched, horrid situation, and the affecting scene which ensued, I will not attempt to describe. Mr. Judson crawled to the door of the prison,—for I was never allowed to enter,—gave me some directions relative to his release; but before we could make any arrangement, I was ordered to depart by those iron-hearted jailers, who could not endure to see us enjoy the poor consolation of meeting in that miserable place. In vain I pleaded the order from the governor for my admittance; they again harshly repeated, "Depart, or we will pull you out." The same evening the missionaries, together with the other foreigners, who paid an equal sum, were taken out of the common prison, and confined in an open shed in the prison inclosure. Here I was allowed to send them food, and mats to sleep on, but was not permitted to enter again for several days. My next object was to get a petition presented to the queen; but no person being admitted into the palace who was in disgrace with his majesty, I sought to present it through the medium of her brother's wife. I had visited her in better days, and received particular marks of her favor. But now times were altered; Mr. Judson was in prison, and I in distress, which was a sufficient reason for giving me a cold reception. I took a present of considerable value. She was lolling on her carpet as I entered, with her attendants around her. I waited not for the usual question to a suppliant, "What do you want?" but in a bold, earnest, yet respectful manner, stated our distresses and our wrongs, and begged her assistance. She partly raised her head, opened the present I had brought, and coolly replied, "Your case is not singular; all the foreigners are treated alike." "But it is singular," said I, "the teachers are Americans; they are ministers of religion, have nothing to do with war or politics, and came to Ava in obedience to the king's command. They have never done anything to deserve such treatment, and is it right they should be treated thus?" "The king does as he pleases," said she; "I am not the king; what can I do?" "You can state their case to the queen, and obtain their release," replied I. "Place yourself in my situation; were you in America, your husband, innocent of crime, thrown into prison, in irons, and you a solitary, unprotected female, what would you do?" With a slight degree of feeling, she said, "I will present your petition; come again to-morrow." I returned to the house with considerable hope that the speedy release of the missionaries was at hand. But the next day, Mr. Gouger's property, to the amount of fifty thousand rupees, was taken and carried to the palace. The officers, on their return, politely informed me that they should visit our house on the morrow. I felt obliged for this information, and accordingly made preparations to receive them, by secreting as many little articles as possible, together with considerable silver, as I knew, if the war should be protracted, we should be in a state of starvation without it. But my mind was in a dreadful state of agitation, lest it should be discovered, and cause my being thrown into prison. And had it been possible to procure money from any other quarter, I should not have ventured on such a step. Religion for This Life and the Next
How DEEPLY rooted is the feeling that religion has a chief value with reference to the life beyond the grave. This is illustrated in the familiar story of the woman who, when asked if her sick husband wouldn't like a neighboring clergyman to call and see him, answered promptly, “Oh no! he's not so sick as all that!” Again it is grimly suggested in the common display of the full address of sexton and undertaker on the outer wall of a city church, even where no name of a pastor appears,—in case a man wanted help for the living instead of the dead. Religion has its bearings on the life that to come, but not to the neglect of this life.—Sel. The Commentary.
By A. T. J.
NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.
(February 7. Dan. 3: 16-28.)
At the end of the three years' schooling of the Hebrew children, referred to in last week's lesson, they were required to undergo an examination upon what they had learned. The king himself conducted the examination, "And among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." Dan. 1: 19, 20. SHORTLY afterward, king Nebuchadnezzar had his dream of the great image, in which was represented the course of empire from his day to the end of the world. The dream made a deep impression on his mind, but he could not possibly recall what he had seen. He was so exercised in mind over it, in trying to recall it, that he could not sleep, and he finally called for the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans, that they might tell him what he had dreamed. Daniel and his three brethren, however, were not brought in among these, probably on account of their youth. None of all these that came could tell the king anything at all about what he wanted to know, by which he discovered their imposture, and commanded that they should be killed. Although Daniel and his brethren were by some means overlooked in the call to gather the wise men before the king, they were not missed when the officers went to execute the decree of death upon all such. THEY were found, and were about to be taken to execution when Daniel asked to be taken to the king. His request was granted, and he asked time and he would tell all the king's matter. Then God showed the thing to Daniel in a night vision, and so the whole matter with its meaning was shown to the king. "Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king." THESE events occurred in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, about 603 B. C. The event which is the subject of the lesson for to-day was about twenty-three years afterward. During this time, Nebuchadnezzar had made an expedition into Egypt and laid it waste. There he had opportunity to see a colossal image which had been set up by Rameses II., the "king who knew not Joseph." This image with its pedestal was 115 feet high, and weighed 1,200 tons. It is supposed that it was in imitation of this image, that Nebuchadnezzar erected his, in his ambition to excel in things great all surrounding kingdoms. See Christian at Work, July 9, 1885, page 651. WHEN Nebuchadnezzar had set up his image, he "sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image." Dan. 3: 2. When they had all come, and all was ready, "Then a herald cried aloud" the command that when the sound of all the music was heard, all the assembly should fall down and worship the great image. Of course Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, being principal officers, were there; and also of course they refused to obey the king's command. It was told the king immediately, and he called them up and asked them about it. Thinking that perhaps it was inadvertence, and that they had not intentionally disobeyed, he asked them, "Is it true [is it of purpose, margin; is it a laid plan, Hebrew] O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?" Then he repeated his command to them direct, and he received a direct answer in which he learned that it was "of purpose," that it was because of a "laid plan," that they refused to worship the image which he had set up. "SHADRACH, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." They were immediately bound, and were plunged into the midst of the furnace, with it already heated seven times better than it was usual to heat it. But they were no sooner fallen into the furnace than Nebuchadnezzar was almost petrified with astonishment. He cried to his counselors, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They replied, "True, O king." But he answered, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Then they were called forth. THUS God delivered those who trusted in him. And thus he vindicated the principle that, we are bound to resist the laws of men, when they are against the law or word of God. Daniel's deliverance from the lion's den, and the deliverance of the apostles from prison more than once, are only additional assertions of the principle that, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5: 29. This lesson is of vital importance to every Sunday-school scholar in this Union. For the National Reform Party has set itself to make an image to the papal power, and to compel all men, under pains and penalties, to worship both the papal power and its image, and this in direct violation of the plain commandment of God. And each one who lives the natural course of life, will be called upon, and that soon, to decide for himself whether he will "worship Him that made Heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters" (Rev. 14: 6-12); or whether he will renounce allegiance to God and worship the papal power and the National Reform image to it in the United States. The commandment of God says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." In defiance of this commandment, and upon the sole authority of the Catholic Church, the National Reformers are going to enact a law by which they can compel everybody to keep Sunday. But, "If any man worship the beast and his image, . . . he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. . . . Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14: 9-12. "BE not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh; for the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." The Covenant and Our Children
"If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forever." Note.—About 500 years after the completion of the temple by Ezra, the edifice sadly needed repairing. Herod the Great, desirous of ingratiating himself with the Jews, decided to rebuild it. The old one was pulled down to its foundation, and the building of the new begun B. C. 19. It was completed in A. D. 27. It was to this building that the Jews referred when they said to the Saviour at his first passover, in the spring of A. D. 28, "Forty and six years was this temple in building." John 2:20. According to Haggai's prophecy, the Desire of all nations had now come to this temple. THE SANCTUARY, ITS SERVICE, ETC.
History of the Earthly Sanctuary.
(Lesson 5. Sabbath, February 4.) 1. How many years before Christ, did Israel leave Egypt? 1491. (See Exodus 12, margin.) 2. How long was it from the exodus to the setting up of the tabernacle by Moses? "And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up." Ex. 40: 17. 5. In what place was it first pitched after entering the land of Canaan? Josh. 4: 19. 6. Where was it next located? "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there; and the land was subdued before them." Josh. 18: 1. 7. What finally took the place of the sanctuary that Moses built? 1 Kings 6: 1, 2. 8. Where was this temple erected? "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite." 2 Chron. 3: 1. 9. What remarkable event occurred on this spot nine hundred years before? Gen. 22: 2. 11. How long was this captivity to continue? "To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years." 2 Chron. 36: 21. 12. After the close of this captivity, what provision was made for another temple? Ezra 1: 1, 5. 13. When was the work completed? "And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." Ezra 6: 15. (Margin, B. C. 515.) 14. What next occurs in the history of the sanctuary? (See note.) 15. What mournful words did our Saviour utter with reference to this building? "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. 23: 38. 16. What miraculous event occurred indicating that the sacredness of the sanctuary was forever gone? "And, behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent." Matt. 27: 51. 17. When and by whom was the sanctuary destroyed? By the Roman army under Titus, A. D. 70. 18. How many years had now passed since Moses set up the sanctuary in the wilderness of Sinai? "The Stinging-Tree."
By J. K. Bloomfield
"How many curious things there are in nature!" exclaimed Harry Webb, as he threw down the paper he had been reading. "Yes, indeed!" replied his Aunt Mary, "There are many wonderful things in nature. But to what do you now especially allude?" "I have just seen an account of the stinging-tree. Please do tell me more about it. Does it actually sting?" "So it seems, Harry, from all accounts we have of it. Though called a tree, the Urtica gigas is more of a thrifty shrub; for in Australia, its native place, where it is very abundant, it is found in groves from two to three inches to fifteen or twenty feet in height. It is classed among the nettles. The leaves are alternate, large, and peculiar, from being covered with short, silvery hair, which, when shaken, emits a fine, pungent dust, most irritating to the skin and nostrils. We are told that if touched it causes acute pain of the arm, accompanied by a burning sensation, particularly in the shoulder and under the arm, where small lumps often rise. "One writer says: 'The stinging-tree bears fruit of a pinkish flesh color, hanging in clusters so inviting that a stranger is irresistibly tempted to pluck it, but seldom more than once; for though the raspberry-like berries are harmless in themselves, some contact with the leaf is almost unavoidable. The blacks are said to eat the fruit; but for this I cannot vouch, though I have tasted one or two at odd times and found them very pleasant. The worst of this nettle is the tendency it exhibits to shoot up wherever a clearing has been effected. In passing through the wagon tracks cut through the scrub, great caution was necessary to avoid the young plants that cropped up even in a few weeks.' But, Harry, Providence, who watches over all, has caused this plant to emit a disagreeable odor, so one by using caution may avoid being stung." "How very painful the sting must be. Does it last long, Aunt Mary?" "A considerable time, I should think from all I hear. A traveler tells us that at times, while shooting wild turkeys in the groves, he has entirely forgotten the stinging-tree until made aware of its proximity by its smell, when, looking about, he has unexpectedly found himself in a little forest of them. Only once was he stung, and but slightly; but its effect, he says, was very curious. It left no mark; but the pain was maddening, and for months afterward, the part, when touched, was tender; also in rainy weather or when the spot got wet in washing. "Though this stinging-tree leaves a most painful effect, it does not kill, as some poisonous things do. It is painful enough, however; for this same traveler assures us that he has seen a man who treats ordinary pain lightly, actually roll on the ground in agony after being stung." "Does it torment animals in the same way, Aunt Mary?" "Yes; horses have been known to become so maddened by the stinging-tree as to rush about frantic, and on any one attempting to approach them, to tear about open-mouthed, ready to bite. In some instances they have had to be shot. And dogs, too, rush about, whining piteously and biting pieces from the affected part. But, strange to say, it does not seem to injure cattle, which dash through the scrubs full of it, without receiving any damage. This fact is well known to all bushmen." "I don't think I should like to come in contact with it," said Harry musingly. "It is well that it has a peculiar smell of its own to warn people of that country away from it." "If all understood and took heed to the warning in time, Harry. But even when told about the odor and the effects of the sting, some are incredulous, others careless, and do not mind the warning. It is just so all over the world. There are some who seem utterly unwilling to listen to or profit by the experience or warning voice of another." "Why, Aunt Mary, I should suppose any one in his senses, if told how dreadful this shrub is likely to sting, if too near it, would give it a wide berth. I'm sure I should, heedless as you sometimes say I am." "Ah, Harry, that might be; but don't be too confident that you are any more certain to heed a warning voice than any other person. Just see how many people, though warned, dally with the wine-cup. It not only has a strong odor of its own, but the Bible, our guide through life, tells all who will listen: 'Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.'" "Here you see, dear Harry, is a full warning, so that all who persistently partake of it know that at last it will sting like an adder, and in so doing destroy both soul and body. The immediate effects are not so great as from the stinging-tree, or a living serpent, but worse in actually destroying the human form." Harry for a moment seemed to be in deep thought, then looking up to his Aunt Mary, he said with much emotion,— "Aunt Mary, I shall not forget the account you have just given me of the stinging-tree, nor of that which stingeth like an adder, and is, as you say, still worse in its effects. And I shall try to steer clear of it all my life." "And warn others from it, too, my dear boy, as you would from some deadly poison. 'None liveth unto himself;' we all have a work to do, and must ever strive by precept and example to accomplish what we can while here in the Master's vineyard."—J. K. Bloomfield, in N. Y. Observer. THE importance of good breeding cannot well be overestimated. But what is good breeding? This is hardly to be understood as synonymous with good manners, though certainly involving them. Nor is it quite the same thing as exemplary or agreeable behavior, though likely to insure it. Good manners, polished behavior, is always the product of practice, discipline, perfection herein being reached only when these manners become habitual, natural, and instructive. True courtesy, meanwhile, involves something deeper than mere motions or manners. It has its seat in the heart, its root in the moral nature. Fundamentally, it consists in an inward, kindly, neighborly, and tender feeling towards every one; an interest in, and a desire to promote, everybody's welfare. Genuine courtesy, in a word, is born of love, springs from a benevolent disposition, a brotherly, chivalric impulse. But what is good breeding? It consists in this inward principle of will, and the outward habit of graceful demeanor combined; it consists of the aforesaid inward gracious impulse, rooted in the heart, and finding natural outward expression, or interpretation, through that disciplined elegance of deportment of which I have spoken. To the inward impulse, or sentiment, duly awakened, the outward, educated habit naturally and instinctively responds; and we have the deportment or carriage of the truly polished, or accomplished gentleman or lady. These twin principles, the inward nurture and the outward culture or training, working together, underlie what, in the highest sense, is to be understood as good breeding.—Northern Christian Advocate. NOTHING is lost; the drop of dew
Which trembles on the leaf or flower
Is but exhaled to fall anew
In summer's thunder shower;
Perchance to shine within the bow
That fronts the sun at fall of day,
Perchance to sparkle in the flow
Of fountains far away. Nothing is lost; the tiniest seed,
By wild birds borne or breezes blown,
Finds something suited to its need
Wherein 'tis sown and grown.
The language of some household song,
The perfume of some cherished flower,
Though gone from outward sense, belong
To memory's after hour. So with our words; or harsh or kind,
Uttered, they're all forgot;
They have their influence on the mind,
Pass on, but perish not.
So with our deeds; for good or ill,
They have their power scarce understood;
Then let us use our better will
To make them rife with good! —Sel. I SAW my wife pull out the bottom drawer of the old family bureau this evening, and I went softly out and wandered up and down until I knew she had gone to her sewing. We have some things laid away in that drawer which the gold of kings could not buy, and yet they are relics which grieve us both until our hearts are sore. I haven't looked at them for a year, but I remember each article. There are two worn shoes, a little chip hat with part of the rim gone; stockings, trousers, and a coat, two or three spools, bits of broken crockery, a whip, and several toys. Wife—poor thing—goes to the drawer every day of her life and prays over it, and lets her tears fall on the precious articles; but I dare not go. Sometimes we speak of little Jack, but not often. It has been a long time, but somehow we can't get over grieving. He was a burst of sunshine in our lives, and his going away has been like covering our every-day existence with a pall. Sometimes when we sit alone evenings, I writing and she sewing, a child on the street will call as our boy used to, and we will both start up with a wild hope, only to find the darkness more of a burden than ever. It is so still and quiet now. I look up to the window where his blue eyes used to sparkle at my coming; but he is not there. I listen for his pattering feet, his merry shouts, and his ringing laugh; but there is no sound,—no one to climb over my knee, no one to search my pockets and tease for presents, and I never find the chair turned over, the broom down, or a rope tied to the door knob. I want some one to tease me for my knife; to ride on my shoulders; to lose my ax; to follow me to the gate, and to be there when I come home; to call 'good night, papa;' for the little bed is now empty;—and wife misses him still more. There are no little feet to wash, no prayers to say, no voice teasing for a lump of sugar, or sobbing with pain of a hurt toe; and she would give her own life, almost, to wake at midnight and look across to the crib and see our boy, as she used to.—Sel. Unkindness and the Spirit of Evil
EVERY word of unkindness, every unfair, hard judgment, every trembling regard of the outward, and fearless disregard of the inward life, is a siding with the spirit of evil against the spirit of good. The Influence of Silent Things
It is the silent things, the unconscious influence of our lives, that make the deepest and most lasting impressions, and not the things that make most noise and that men observe and talk the most about. THERE was a Corsican boy who could rehearse forty thousand words, whether sense or nonsense, as they were dictated, and then repeat them in the reversed order without making a single mistake. A physician, about sixty years ago, could repeat the whole of "Paradise Lost," without a mistake, although he had not read it for twenty years. Euler, the great mathematician, when he became blind, could repeat the whole of Virgil's "Æneid," and could remember the first line and the last line on every page of the particular edition which he had been accustomed to read before he became blind. One kind of retentive memory may be considered as the result of sheer work, a determination toward one particular achievement without reference either to cultivation or to memory on other subjects. This is frequently shown by persons in humble life in regard to the Bible. An old beggarman at Stirling, known about fifty years ago as "Blind Alick," afforded an instance of this. He knew the whole of the Bible by heart, insomuch that, if a sentence was read to him, he could name the book, chapter, and verse; or, if the book, chapter, and verse were named, he could give the exact words. A gentleman, to test him, repeated a verse, purposely making one verbal inaccuracy. Alick hesitated, named the place where the passage was to be found, but at the same time pointing out the verbal error. The same gentleman asked him to repeat the ninetieth verse of the seventh chapter of the book of Numbers. Alick almost instantly replied: "There is no such verse. The chapter has only eighty-nine verses." Gassendi had acquired by heart six thousand Latin verses; and, in order to give his memory exercise, he was in the habit daily of reciting six hundred verses from different languages.—Toronto Globe. Health and Temperance.
By R. F. Cottrell
HEALTH and temperance are words often associated together; and these qualities naturally go together, because there is a natural relation between them. But the natural order is, temperance first, and health as the result. The true order of qualities in the work of the reformation of our race is, faith, courage, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. Without faith in the work we undertake, nothing good will be accomplished. Faith inspires courage, the second necessary qualification. But blind faith and fool-hardy courage will not answer the purpose. Knowledge is necessary to direct our efforts. A knowledge of the organization of our being and of our relation to surrounding objects, their adaptations to our use, or, otherwise, of their hurtful tendencies, lays the foundation for true temperance. Temperance leads to health and patient endurance; the want of it is disastrous in these respects. These steps lead on to godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity; and these prepare a person for the finishing touch of immortality,—the perfect reformation and restoration of man to temperance, health, and happiness forever. R. F. COTTRELL. It is very probable that were the claim to be made that the people of the United States consume a greater quantity of liquors per capita than those of any other nation, it would be sustained by official facts and figures. The report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for the year closed June 30, places the consumption of malt liquors for that time at 17,573,723 barrels, an increase over the figures of the preceding year of 1,147,673 barrels. Reducing the reported consumption of last year to gallons, gives 702,948,920 gallons as the quantity of malt liquors consumed in the United States during the twelve months. On the basis of the canvass of population for 1880, the consumption of malt liquors per capita was over fourteen gallons; and if it be assumed that the entire quantity was drunk by the male population alone, the figures would give over twenty-eight gallons for the consumption of every man and male child in the United States. If the calculation be based on an estimate of 55,000,000 as the present population of the United States, it will be found that our consumption of malt liquors for the period stated was equal to a fraction over twelve gallons for every man, woman, and child, in the country. Here is a gigantic sin, in the guise of a personal enjoyment, from which the temperance people seek to cleanse our land. May they succeed!—Sel. THE idea of rest and recreation and deliberation in eating, no longer occupies the thought of the American boy, much less of the business man. Yet the power of life depends as much upon this as upon any one conduct of life. A thorough digestion not only leaves the mind clear and the nervous system placid, but so provides the physical and mental machinery with its propelling power as to make thought as natural as if it were a physical function. It is not difficult to see in the work, as well as in the writings of some men, the traces of a bad physical condition. Emerson overstated the case when he stated that the sick man is on the road to rascality, but, nevertheless, did indicate what is true, that a man in a chronic state of embarrassed digestion is out of gear with himself and the rest of mankind. We believe that the foundation of many an incapacity is laid in this want of quiet, deliberate eating.—The Independent. Sweetness in Small Services
I MORE than doubt whether, until our small services are sweet with divine affection, our great ones, if such we are capable of, will ever have the same Christian flavor about them.—MacDonald. He who waits to do a great deal at once, will never do anything. Tobacco, King of Hard Times.
IN its annual trade review the Chicago Inter-Ocean says that "although tobacco is really classed among the luxuries, yet its use has become so general and the habits of smoking and chewing so fixed, that it is considered and treated as a necessity by a large majority of consumers. Hence its sale is less affected by hard times than many other lines of goods, the only class to suffer being fine brands of chewing tobacco and high-priced cigars." By this showing, it appears that the most selfish, offensive, and enervating habit that ever set the brand of filth upon the garments and its stench upon the breath of an enlightened people has risen proudly superior to a general stagnation in business, and made a satisfactory record in the trade of one of the dullest of years. What little stretch of economy was made in the direction of this necessity of civilized existence was not forced upon laboring men, whose outcry of meager wages and lack of employment resounded from one end of the country to the other. No; it was the bosses in the financial world who were forced into retrenchment in tobacco. The year 1885 voiced many a complaint of labor against corporate power, charging that it sought to reduce wages to a point that would deprive the working man of the barest comforts of life; but it seems that all the force of organized capital was not able to take from the laborer the gentle solace of his pipe or the supreme comfort of his quid. Labor strikes abounded; strikes against proposed reduction of wages and strikes for advance; strikes to compel the discharge of objectionable men and strikes because of the discharge of favorites; strikes on railway and street-car lines, and in iron mills and cotton factories; strikes against labor-saving machines and against cheap foreign labor. In the aggregate an enormous amount of wages was lost because unearned, and in hundreds of homes the most abject poverty ruled; but the incense from the tobacco-pipe never ceased to ascend, and the laborer continued to expectorate as freely as when work was plenty and wages were good. Children, we are told, went supperless to bed, and from lack of books and clothing, were unable to accept the proffer of free education, and families suffered for coal; but the pipe was by extra exertion kept warm. Such luxuries as sugar, butter, syrup, and meat had to succumb in many a working man's home to the inexorable demand of hard times; but when it came to the actual necessities, the down-trodden laborer produced his plug and pipe, and was consoled. Not only was the devotee of tobacco—of the cheap grades—not reduced to the dire extremity of want, in conjunction with this prime necessity, but he even, as the records show, scorned economy therein. It was his oppressor, the man of means, perhaps even the odious corporation shark, who was forced to retrench upon quality, and substitute for his luxury of fine-cut the rank plug that is the poor man's solace. Let no one think that the laboring class of this favored country is entirely bereft of comfort, so long as the tobacco sales of a dull financial year report an increase of from 5 to 20 per cent. on all of the cheaper grades. Coal is a luxury, upon which the family can afford, in a financial pinch, to economize. School books can be dispensed with. Clothing can be patched and turned and made to do double duty by deft fingers in the poorest home. Soup-houses can be resorted to if the pinch gets sharp enough; but tobacco reigns through all, king of hard times.—Sel. TEMPERANCE is one of the Christian graces. A SINGLE bitter word may disquiet an entire family for a whole day; one glance cast a gloom over the household; while a smile, like a gleam of sunshine, may light up the darkest hours. Like unexpected flowers, which spring up along our path full of freshness, fragrance, and beauty, so do kind words and gentle acts and sweet dispositions make glad the home where peace and harmony dwell. No matter how humble the home; if it be thus garnished with grace and sweetened with kindness and smiles, the heart will turn lovingly toward it from all the tumults of the world. Toward the cheerful home the children gather "as clouds and as doves to the window." And the influences of homes perpetuate themselves. The gentle grace of the mother lives in the daughter long after her head is pillowed in the dust of the earth; and fatherly kindness finds its echo in the nobility and courtesy of sons who come to wear his mantle and fill his place. The class of men that disturb and disorder and distress the world are not those born and nurtured amid the hallowed influences of Christian homes, but rather those whose early life has been amid scenes of trouble and vexation; who started wrong in the pilgrimage, and whose course is one of disaster to themselves and trouble to those around them.—Sel. REMEMBER you have not a sinew whose law of strength is not action; you have not a faculty of body, mind, or soul whose law of improvement is not energy.